TAs oppose new 12-unit requirement

Ryan A. Mihalyi Arizona Daily Wildcat Angry graduate students from the College of Agriculture met Friday afternoon to discuss a new policy that requires graduate teaching assistants and research assistants to take at least 12 units per semester to be eligible for funding. The students argued that the policy was unfair and discriminatory.

The university's Graduate College, which oversees all graduate students in their respective colleges, requires full-time students to take nine units each semester. Students receiving research and teaching funding are only required to carry six units.

However, the College of Agriculture and the College of Engineering and Mines recently changed those requirements in their own colleges.

The new policy requires GTAs and GRAs to take 12 units per semester in order to receive funding.

Brad Guay, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture, said the policy is discriminatory because it doesn't target every college.

"It also doesn't apply to all students, only those receiving aid," he said. "This is going to make students move away from GRA and GTA positions and more toward wage positions," he said.

Guay was one of about 30 students who met in the Forbes Building on Friday with David Cox, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, to discuss the new policy.

One concern regarding the new policy, which is effective July 1, is the cost of tuition. At current rates, students taking six or less units must pay $107 per unit, adding up to $642 per semester.

At 12 units, the cost of tuition increases to $1,004 per semester.

By taking more classes, many students said the quality of their research will decline.

"Requiring us to take this many units will give us less time to devote to our research, and that will not be good for the university," said Lacey Halstead, a graduate student in the College of Agriculture.

Due to decreased enrollment, the university experienced a $1.8 million shortfall in this year's budget. To help offset that loss, the university asked each college to reduce its budget by 1 percent. That translated to $404,500 from the College of Agricult ure, Cox said.

Because the college's budget was decreased, Cox said it needed a way to regain some of the lost money.

He said the decision came after several months of searching for a solution to the funding problem.

Since November, the deans of the College of Agriculture have met with other department heads to discuss ways to recoup costs.

Once the policy was in place, Cox said he assumed the department heads would spread the word to the students.

But the students at the meeting said they had just learned of the policy. They also said they were not involved with the decision, a point which Cox agreed was valid.

Many students said taking 12 units in their final semester would be an unnecessary burden. Because some degrees do not require 12 units in the final semester, many students would be taking and paying for "empty credits."

"I don't anticipate the college granting many exceptions, except possibly for students in their final semester," Cox said.

Cox said he would meet Tuesday morning with the executive council of the College of Agriculture to discuss students' concerns about the policy.

Cox also said he would help set up another forum where students could talk about the policy.